A woman in a white dress is surrounded by a halo of light as she rides a hodge-podge on the back of a slow pacing camel, while the faceless scenes of the faceless woman are enveloped in serenity and dignity.
Old scenes of Makkah and Madinah appear as they have not appeared in a cinematic work before, as the lighting gives a spiritual atmosphere to the places and the movement of the actors.
In the film, this woman is engaged in a struggle with other men, and the events revolve around the suffering of what is supposed to be Lady Fatima al-Zahra - may God be pleased with her - the daughter of our master Muhammad - may God bless him and grant him peace - in the movie "Our Lady of Paradise", which was shown in Britain a huge wave of anger. among Muslims.
The problem with the movie “The Lady of Paradise” is that it has involved politics in interpreting the honorable biography of the Prophet as a matter of violence, and it has shown that the cause of the violence of organizations such as ISIS and others is our master Abu Bakr and Omar, may God be pleased with them both.
Here the situation becomes more complicated.
Because the film went beyond presenting a historical viewpoint to linking political violence to a particular doctrine
In moments similar to public anger and religious and sectarian animosity on previous occasions, there is no room for analysis and criticism.
No voice is louder than the voice of two groups, one calling for freedom of expression and the other calling for a ban because of religious abuse.
In this article, we do not want to enter into this polarizing debate, and we do not believe that the place currently allows for artistic criticism of the film, but rather to show another discussion related to the subject of the film and the circumstances in which it is shown.
The movie "Our Lady of Heaven" (networking sites)
At the outset, an incorrect accusation spread in the Arab and Western media should be refuted, which is that the overwhelming anger of many British Muslims against the film was due to the portrayal of Lady Fatima al-Zahra, even if her face did not appear despite the appearance of other actors in the roles of a number of companions;
The evidence for this is that the series "Omar" did not provoke all this anger during its presentation years ago in the Arab world. On the contrary, it was met with an unparalleled welcome, and the same thing was repeated with the series "Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein".
This means that the general Muslim public has no problem with portraying the characters of the Companions and followers as long as this is done in a framework of respect and non-distortion.
The series "Al-Hassan and Al-Hussain", for example, obtained approvals from Sunni, Shiite and Ibadi religious references from various countries of the Islamic world.
I do not imagine that the approvals themselves were the permissibility of this type of series, rather it was represented in the idea of appreciating the viewer and that it falls within the accounts of the producer and director and not trying to impose a superlative vision on him without him having a role in responding or expressing an opinion, especially if this vision affects his faith And his religion.
In this context, we cannot forget that cinema as an artistic tool, especially in Western countries, is still far from embodying the conditions, hopes and pain of Muslims for various reasons.
On the contrary, the orientalist vision of Arabs and Muslims has dominated in films since the beginning of the era of cinema in the world before it changed little by little, and Arabs and Muslims are still among the least represented groups on the silver screen, if not the most distorted in it.
Therefore, there is a state of apprehension and anxiety when cinema tries to approach the beliefs and religions of groups that have ignored them a lot and distorted them for a long time.
politicize history
The other problem with the movie “The Lady of Paradise” is that it has involved politics in the interpretation of the honorable biography of the Prophet as a matter of violence, and it has shown that the cause of the violence of organizations such as ISIS and others is our master Abu Bakr and Omar, may God be pleased with them both.
Here the situation becomes more complicated.
Because the film went beyond providing a historical viewpoint to linking political violence to a particular doctrine.
The story presents an axis in our current era that shows the actions of ISIS and other organizations, and the other axis appears in the story of Lady Fatima al-Zahra and her era.
Here the question arises again, to what extent does the creator have the right to mix the religious with the political with the historical in order to present what is meant to him?
Certainly, the door to creativity is not wide open in the face of inciting sectarian and sectarian sensitivities and strife.
It is specifically related to dehumanizing a particular sect and linking it to incidents of violence and political terrorism that many Arab countries suffer from, and it extended to include Western cities and capitals.
While preparing for my PhD, I had the opportunity to see the script development process for BBC dramas.
During the initial treatment of any dramatic work, whether a series, movie, or other, a historical, political and human research is conducted if it comes from near or far to embody a specific event in history or politics, even if the core of the idea and the work is fictional.
The goal of this in-depth historical research - which is supervised by several sections in the network - is to ensure that the work does not intentionally or unintentionally offend a group of people or provide an abnormal or strange interpretation or carry a sectarian, sectarian or partisan point of view about a political event or a historical fact that That the work is biased to this category or that.
These rules were not born with the establishment of the BBC, but they developed with time and with the frequent governmental, partisan and popular complaints about the mixture of political, historical and dramatic until they reached this formula that was not subject to accusations of stifling freedom of expression.
The organizers of the movie "Our Lady of Paradise" were not unable to make the treatment focus on the venerable role played by Lady Fatima al-Zahra and her fragrant biography and the role of this biography in our contemporary world, whether on the political or social level.
At the time, the film would have been an important step to fill a gap in global film production, which did not know similar films that embody the first Islamic era more than 4 decades ago, when the film The Message was shown by the late director Mustafa Al-Akkad.
It would have been an important act in the face of the rising currents of Islamophobia and campaigns of hatred against Arabs and Muslims.
However, they preferred to enter the world of sectarian controversy from its most problematic door, which is to show the religious symbols of the opposing sect in a repulsive manner and to link them to incidents that are related to them to support their point of view.
Perhaps the only positive point in this film is that it showed many in the Arab and Islamic worlds that cinematic work based on a religious or political story is not far from the world's cinemas.
And that the decision to produce these works does not require fancy budgets.
The Arab production companies’ focus on spending millions in producing dramas for the Arab world should be rationalized, in order to produce other works directed to the world to present Arab and Islamic culture and history in the face of hate and distortion campaigns, knowing that these works are also profitable, perhaps more than Arab drama.